OCTOBER 4, 1922 | CHAPEL HILL, N. C. 


CERTAIN DEFECTS | 


Two years ago when I discussed this 


the cost of county government, the size 
of the bonded indebtedness, or the 


question before a similar conference’ floating debt, or the expenditures of 
here at Chapel Hill, said Dr. E. C. the several departments. Hence they 
Brooks our state superintendent of| donot know what rates of taxes to 
Public Instruction, I ealled attention to. levy. Therefore each General Assem- 
certain defects that were seriously di-| bly is called upon to refund the float- 
minishing the public benefits that we ing indebtedness. This is an evidence 
had a right to expect of our county of- that certain municipalities and counties 
ficials. The information was not de- are living partly on bondissues for cur- 
rived from hearsay stories but from rent expenses rather than levying the 
personal investigation of the records of required amount of taxes for their le- 
a number of counties. Since that time gitimate néeds, or they are living be- 
| we have inaugurated an auditing sys-| yond their means, and in either case 
_tem of school accounts which shows they are piling up trouble for the fu- 
that in the main these same defects ex- | ture. 


ist to a greater or less extent in a large 


Hy percent of the counties today. They 
are as follows: 
1, Fromten percent to fifteen per- 


cent of the taxes in some counties re- 


main uncoilected from year to year and} 
the records fail to show what becomes | 


of the delinguent lists. Therefore, 
from eighty-five percent to ninety per- 
cent of the people seem to carry an ex- 
tra tax burden of from ten percent to 
fifteen percent. 

_ 2. The fines, forfeitures, and penal- 
ties of the towns and cities and the fines 
| and penalties of the magistrates court 
| frequently are not applied to public 


_ school support in the county in accord-| 


ance with law but are spent illegally. 
8. The funds collected are not segre- 


gated in accordance with law and ap-} 


plied to the several departments as a 
good budgeting system would demand. 
Therefore the illegal excess spent by a 
department may be an additional bur- 
den on the county and it certainly be- 
comes necessary to borrow in order to 
meet the legitimate needs of other de- 
partments. Thus the county’s indebt- 
_ edness is increased. 

4, The special local taxes are not al- 

ways properly levied, collected, and dis- 


Since these charges were made two 
years ago some notable improvements 
| have been begun. The General Assem- 
| bly has made a beginning and the State 
| Auditor has at last been able to secure 
enough information to tabulate the a- 
mount of the bonded indebtedness of 
' all the counties save one. A _ budget 
"been installed in a number of counties, 
thus increasing the number of better 
| governed counties. An _ accounting 
system has been authorized and the 
people will have access to information 
,that they have never been able hereto- 
fore to secure. But one of the most 
encouraging signs is the interest the 
_ public is taking in this question and es- 
pecially the new determination of the 
commissioners to reorganize the gov- 
ernment to meet modern conditions, 
and sooner or later the people will de- 
mand a correct exhibit of public busi- 
ness and in terms they can understand. 


The Pitt County Idea 


I wish now to call attention especial- 
ly to one county that has made notable 
improvement. Two years ago it ap- 
peared that Guilford maintained the 
best standard of all the counties we 


bursed. I have on my table now a let-|| had studied. But I am now inclined to 
ter from a citizen of one county asking; | believe that Pitt county is in the: lead. 
if certain corporations in the district | | J realize that I am running great risk 
should pay special. taxes for the sup- | when I begin to specify, but since I 
port of the school and the local govern- have said it is the duty of some one to 
| ment and if so how far back can the of-, hold up good examples of an entire 
| ficials collect. | county working effectively, I shall 
plunge in whether the water is fine or 

not. 


BROOKS ON COUNTY GOVERNMENT 


| 5. Officials in many counties do not know 


The commissioners of Pitt for some 
time have been keenly interested in 
ways and means of improving their 
county government, and judging it by 
good business standards it seems to be. 
more efficiently governed than any oth- | 
er county in the state of which I have. 
any knowledge. If there are others 
better organized and more efficiently | 
governed, I hope this address will call 
them to the front. I am informed that 
less than one percent of the legitimate 
taxes in Pitt county was uncollected 
in 1920. Therefore, the public burden 
is equally distributed. The commis- 
sioners have secured the services of a 
whole-time auditor, (he might be called 
county-manager just as well as county 
auditor,) who is the executive of the 
.board. His duties'seem to be as fol- 
lows: 

1. He, instead of the Register of 
Deeds, makes up the tax books for the 
‘year and holds a copy of these books in 


: | his office for the correction of errors, for 
system has been inaugurated and has] 


checking against other departments, 
and for keeping up with all legitimate 
refunds. Therefore the income can be 
measured fairly accurately at the be- 
ginning of the year. . . 

| 2. He superintends all buying for the 
county, keeps a record of the same, the 
prices paid, and the needs. Hach de- 
partment, therefore, can be kept with- 
in its legal requirements, and made to 
live within its income, unless an emer- 
gency arises. Then, of course, the 
‘commissioners can follow the law in 
meeting all such emergencies. 

3. He audits all accounts presented 
to the commissioners for payment and 
checks them according to the provisions 
in the budget, and I am informed that 
the commissioners “‘can tell the finan- 
cial condition of each fund in the county 
at a moment’s notice, what proportion 
of the taxes have been collected, and 
what taxes are in arrears atany time.’’ | 

4, The commissioners employed a 
man to work under the auditor, whose 
duties are to study the county’s tax- 
ables and to ascertain how much is not | 
listed. During the first two months of 
his services he put on the tax books 
over $2,000,000 worth of property, some | 
of which was real property that had 
not been listed in several years, and. 
under good management this property 
will remain on the tax books. Of 


‘course, itis clear that the income is 


public support lighter on those who 
have heretofore paid their taxes. Such 
‘are the reforms that have been made 
‘in Pitt county during the past two 
‘years, I may add also that in the ad- 
ministration of the public school funds 
the same good business methods are 
employed, as the records in our office 
show. 


| Reform Principles 


_ There are two principles contained in 
these reforms that should be noted. 

First. The commissioners have separ- 
ated the strictly executive functions of 
the board from the purely legislative. 
‘As a result they can devote their best 
‘energies to planning for the county’s 
welfare and outlining the work of this 
executive officer. 

Second. They have taken from the 
‘Register of Deeds and the sheriff cer- 
tain functions that in many counties 
are seriously affected by political pres- 
sure, and placed them in the hands of 
‘an executive who can perform his du- 
ties without fear or favor. 

Many of the defects in county admin- 
istration are due to the fact that those 
who have in their custody the record of 
property values and those who receive 
the funds from the people are too often 


‘easily influenced by those on whom they | 


rely for political support. Therefore 
these two functions should be removed 
as far as possible from party influences. 


How They Work in Pitt 


In taking the improvements in Pitt 
‘county asa good example of reforms 
in the right direction, suppose we ap- 
ply some of the accepted principles of 
| good government to them. Article I 
| of our Constitution is called the Declara- 
tion of Rights. Section 8says, ‘‘The leg- 
islative, executive and supreme judicial 
powers of government ought to be for- 
ever separate and distinct from each oth- 
er.’’ This distinctidn is fairly well main- 
tained in the organization of our state 
\government, and our judicial system 


| throughout is fairly well divorced from | 
the other two divisions. But in county | 
government, as a rule, it is difficult to 
tell in many cases which is the execu- 
tive and which is the legislative. 
Article VII of the Constitution says, 
“Tt shall be the duty of the commis- 
sioners to exercise a general supervision 
and control of the penal and charitable 
institutions, schools, roads, bridges, 
levying of taxes, and finances of the 
county, as may be prescribed by 
law.’’ But section 14 gives the General 
Assembly power to modify this section. 
However, it still i a as the ighest 
authority. ree ho ¥ 


greatly increased and the burden of |, 


_ The Board of County Commissioners| "The Provision’in the Con 

has then both legislative and executive bi t shall be the duty ‘of ‘the commis- 
functions. It may pass certain rules sioners to exercise a general supervi- 
and regulations of a very broad nature sion and control’’ of the affairs of a 
that have the force of law. These, ‘eounty, is wise, and they : should be re- 
therefore, would be legislative acts,|Sponsible directly to the people. But} 
At the same time it acts as an execu-| When they as a board undertake to ex- 
tive body when attempting to carry ecute a number of rules and regulations 
out these rules and regulations, al- 2nd state laws, they cannot exercise 
though the total time devoted to both the general supervision and control 


may not exceed in many instances twelve that this modern day demands. Theres) 
days within a period of twelve fore their dutiesshould be legislative. , 


months. This is perhaps long enough 1¢Y should select a competent execu- 
for their legislative duties, but certain- tive to carry out their rules and regula- 


| duties. 


| tinually functioning to see that the 
, rules of the board or the laws of the 


| separate emoluments or privileges from 


ly not long enough for their executive | 


Moreover, after the commissioners 
pass rules and regulations geverning | 
the several departments of a county 
thére is no central executive head con- 


state are obeyed. Therefore. indivi- 
duals or communities or classes that 
can bring the greatest pressure to bear 
on the board are sometimes the most] 


Rights, which says that ‘‘No man or 
set of men are entitled to exclusive or 


the community but in consideration of 
public services.’’ 


Pitt county has-separated many oe 
| the executive functions of the county | 


commissioners from their legislative 
ones by placing the former in the hands 
of an executive employed by them and 
responsible to them. If he is held to 


strict accountability, and no member of 


the board is permitted to interfere 
with his acts except as they may be 
reviewed by the whole board, it is reas- 
onable to suppose that, if he is a com- 
petent man, Pitt county will be! 
greatly benefited. The evidences justi- 
fy this conclusion. 

But under the old confused method, 
‘if ten percent of the people are exempt 
from taxation they are receiving emol-. 
feos and privileges not enjoyed by' 
the other ninety percent. If towns and) 
‘eities are spending the fines, forfeitures 
| land penalties, they are using money a 
part of which belongs to the country 
people. If one department of govern- 
ment is receiving more than its legal 
share of the funds and the others are 
compelled to borrow as a result, one 
part of our population may be receiving 
benefits not enjoyed by the other part. | 


| the best practice as well as the best 


' tice. aD 


tions and the state law, and hold him 
responsible for their execution. 
not know whether he should be called 


I do 


an auditor or a business manager or by 
some other name. The name does not 
matter so much. There are counties 
today employing auditors who are mere- 
ly book-keepers, and careless ones at 
that, while there are other counties em- 
ploying auditors who are real execu- 
tives and worth thousands of dollars to 
their counties in excess of their sala- 


fortunate, thus violating directly or in- ries. In fact, sofar as I have been able 


directly Section 7 of the Declarati f| . 
* eT aT the most progress are those that have’ 


the best auditors, and I suspect their | 
_ duties vary in different counties. 
can estimate 


to learn, the counties that have made 


Who 
the value of Auditor 
Holden to Wake County, and Auditor 
Orrell to New Hanover? 

But an auditor with the duties usual. 
ly assigned to him is not enough. We 
need a real executive with broad pow-| 
ers, and I do not believe it is necessary 
to increase the number of officials in © 


order to secure it. By a rearange- 
ment of functions the county’s busi- 
ness can be transacted by the same 
number of officials as at present. It 
will be necessary, of course, to increase 
the number of clerks in order to trans- | 


j act twenty times more business ass 


than in 1900. pastas 


State Sapetvnidt 


Finally it is the duty of the state to 
help the counties set up a standard of 
good county government. Governor 
Morrison in his fine passion to see North 
Carolina go forward along all lines has 
appointed a Commission to report to 
the next General Assembly a plan for 
the improvement of county govern- 
ment. Wemay look in vain through 
the statutes of the General Assembly 
for any plan or even a suggestion of a 
good form of organization. Therefore 
great good may result from the acts of 
this Commission if it brings toyether 


thought and embodies them in a statute 
on county government as a guide to all 
public officials. However, it should 
somewhat elastic until a complete form 
jof good county government has been 
worked out and Proven by actual prac- 


ty 
oa. 1 Wa 


| But after a standard is set up it is 
| the duty of the state to exercise super- 
| Nene and require the counties to meet 
The State Bank Examiner closes a’ 
ee as soon as it reaches the danger 
line. And many a bank has been closed 
and the officials. punished for doing less 
than certain county officials do with— 
‘impunity. Covnty officials, therefore, 
-should'be required by the state to meet 
a similar standard of safety. For ex- 
ample: suppose a bank should let a few 
of its depositors overdraw their ac- 
‘counts until the reserve is far below 
the amount required by law to meet 
the daily demands of the bank! Yet 
| this is exactly what a number of coun- 
| ties do today. They permit certain de- 


partments of government to take money 
|as long as any may be found in the 
treasury, regardless of the amounts due 
those departments. | 

A system of traveling auditors under 
the jurisdiction of the State Auditor 
‘can easily tell whether the county’s 
| business is in safe hands. If it, is not 
properly safeguarded the guilty officials 
should be removed atonce, leaving to the 
Commissioners the power to fill the va- 
|cancy until the next election. | More- 
|over, the State Auditor should be au- 
| thorized to conduct an institute for all 
| new officials who are ignorant of their 
duties and they should be allowed a 
reasonable time to qualify. But they 
should qualify! The duties and respon- 
sibilities of our officials are twenty-fold 
greater today than they were twenty 
years ago. Therefore the old methods 
of book-keeping and of managing coun- 
ty affairs will ge suffice for this new 
day. 

Tam ambitious to see North Carolina 
the best governed state in the, world. 
In order to be the best governed, it 
| must have the best citizenship, and to 
have the best citizenship it must have 
the best system of schools—not the 
| most costly, but the. best. But when 
| we consider how little has been done 
| by the state to help the county expand 
| and equip its organization to meet the 
new and increasing demands of the 
| public, the wonder is not that we have 

many defects, but that we have worked 
lout an organization as efficient as 
| we findin many counties. There are 
evidences that the people are seeking 
for something better, that patriotic of- 
ficials are giving of their time and 

money to make their counties respond | 
justly to the needs of the people, and 
that heroic men and women in every 

| section of our pies. me qeonnst Real 
of. old | 


\ 


tae oy 


_DoRS NORTH CAROLINA READ? _ 


Table ewes (1) the eunbined careulation | in North Gardienk, of The Pro- 
gressive Farmer, Literary Digest, Ladies Home J ournal, and Saturday Evening 
Post, on June 30, 1922, in each county of the state, (2) the number of inbab- 
itants per paper, and (8) the rank of the counties. _ 

In this study the average for the state is 26 lohabieants per Daan: aie 
| ty-seven counties fall behind this average. Mainly they are (1) the counties 
with large negro populations, (2) the remote rural counties, and (8) all the 
mountain counties, Buncombe and Henderson excepted. 


L. R. Wilson, Librarian, University of North Carolina. ie 
No.  Inhabs. No. _ Inhabs, 


Rank County papers per paper| Rank County papers per paper 

1 Buncombe.......... 5000 «18 QR NA NBON foe 2 vu say 890 32 

2 New Hanover ...... 2967 14 62) Bertie 4.0 Wegiae 

8 Mecklenburg....... 5310 15 Ava l E EG b-day aaa es 1344 333 

4 Wake..... eae. 4685 16 62 Hamete scion | 38 

A Guilford. 2 sice es 4846 16 SeesPerson. i 5 578-33 

6° Moore: Vues rl 12 8. BO Swain. cs eres Beal hoe 

Bi Puram: Sve ose a6 hee 2355 18 66 Sampson’ s.3 gi 53 1048 34 

B PGatawDa sue su ese. 1769 4910 06 Camdens ey as 158 84 

SG OPENS. ue’ es ku 925 Ae 56, Alexander.......... 359 34 
BO Aes il ate Cute a's! 5 0 Weis af 659 20. 60 / Davidson sc .rh) 995 35 
1k Alamance 76. 05. 1568 = 21 60: Currituck.) 3k ke. 206 «=. 85 
11 Cumberland...... -.. 1633 21 BUF Ey dels 8 eae 240 35 
11 Edgecombe......... TSO9} 2 60 Onslow 490 §) 85 

ditoe Riehmond: <2 v.05. > 1234 21°: GO: Pamliso ny; peso 260 °° 35 
1 Rowan eee: . 2066 21 Ob Tyrrelbr ose 134.36 
16. Carteret...... ..... 704 22 OOOH mae lige uh 246. 86 
UG) Porsy th. wih sa35 2a. 3523 22 67 McDowell.......... 452 37 
18 MOHOWAN. «ns ones als sis 460) 3 4 28. 67 Martin. 570. 87 
TS OPAVEDIN. So ets cee te 1258 23 Ol: < SEPP Yee tn oe 866 37 
AR erode lise ee eee oe be 1659 23 67 Warren SIE 8 5A" 37 
18 Pasquotank......... TA 28 Ti Caldwell a gon cas 529.338 
B85 eRGOIpR. 25.0 64/3 aia. 1366 =. 28 fle Burke vay cua snes 609 88 
23: Columbusy'.2. ccee ees 1244 24 73: Hay wood:in hi. 25.555 602 39 
238° Henderson........ . 769 24 BS Limeolny iis. vs. coke 457 39 
aR PRONE foils cis. ssid was 12th! 24 Wei Macony co ssae si oie 3828 =. 39 
Bee Vane uve yyleds 988 24 76 Transylvania... ... 286 ae 
Sie BOAULOLG se sdivins nae 1266 =6.25 16": Hertford: s./.) 401 40 
27 st aphine cease eee 1223 25 16< Brankline io jucste 669 40 
27 Rutherford... ..050% 1244 25 19 Hote. aioe. ie. sas StF 4" 
27. Scotland: . 3. ac... 629 25 80 . Johnston .... 2.085. 1137 43 

31 Montgomery...:.... 557 =. 26 Bly Onesie. Oi. oa cree be 2238 44 
BE DAVIC. ee yareess po Pe Olt 26 GEM MEOK OB eyes ee ai 472. 44 
81 Cleveland........... 1292 26 81 Cherokee.....:...... 350 44 
BA PIER aie aa i ates se TOO) SOT Se Yadkin sete ce 362 45 
84) Stanly... 4.2. + ese eee 1016) 27 84 Brunswick.......... 309 = 48 
34° Wayne... 25s sj00 005 L6L7 2s 27 84. Greene o.060) 45... 339 48 
BC GERODEBOD GS Sain dc diahess 1960 28 4. J BCKSOM. You ccanes 280 48 

OTT MCG DARTUR sche iy 0 bie 1220.28 SS ass aaa a THE AS Be 
89. Gatesis. | cb esiky cee a 363 - 29 BO: VRSCSS 2 UU ON ev wae 607 54 
39 Perquimans......... 882 29 90:5 Mitchells) oe (202 56 
PAO) RMON). s/o ewe oh, 4d 1242 89.29 91 Caswell....... shuathe 262 ~=—-60 
42 Wilson ....... Ph aN 1209 30 G2 \ CMe Says oman ates 76 38661 
42 Washington... 382 =. 30 93 Watauga........... 216. G2) yap 
Ag Pender. s0i..40 aghe st 491-30 94 Yancey. ee oe ME sain Sao, CB g 
42 Northampton...:i:. 762° 30 Ob: ANGRY os tute, ean 146, 70... 
46 Gaston ...i...A 059.05 16672 81 96 Madison.......... Pes tary. Has 
46urGranville) 72.04.02 (BBL “SPS < [ST Dare .. 0... esa ns wisi Shang SAO 
48.Rockingham..../:...: 1877 °° 82-198 Alleghany.. Saas aie 20% event 
48 b Bladen)... Lo. 619 82 99 ee 189; ddd 
148 Chatham RRS Aaa 87929 1.100 Graham i 2.0L 05 bie? | 20>, Sete 


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